


Reliably out of order

by weilongfu



Category: HIStory3 - 圈套 | HIStory3: Trapped (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, idiots to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:15:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25564972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weilongfu/pseuds/weilongfu
Summary: Ever since meeting the cute and intriguing IT tech Zhao Zi, Jack's computer has been reliably on the fritz in time for Zhao Zi to come fix it and have lunch with him. Once a week. Every week.There is absolutely nothing wrong with this situation and no ulterior motives what so ever.Inspired by an idea bybonibaruon Tumblr
Relationships: Jack | Fang Liangdian/Zhao Li'an | Zhao-zi, Meng Shaofei/Tang Yi
Comments: 34
Kudos: 304
Collections: Out of Order





	Reliably out of order

**Author's Note:**

> It's a bit rushed, but I really wanted to contribute to this month's theme on the Trapped Collection! Things have been tight for most of the month, but I sacrificed today to write this so, please enjoy!

At exactly half an hour to noon, Jack saved all his work to several backups. At a quarter to noon, he pulled open a command prompt on his computer, tapped out a familiar string of commands to start a program he’d written himself, and hit enter.

A second passed.

Then another.

And suddenly Jack’s screen went on the fritz and changed to the dreaded blue screen of death.

“Oh no!” Jack exclaimed, much to the consternation of Li Zhide in the cubicle next to him. “My computer is fried again! I need IT stat!”

Li Zhide pounded on his desk. “Do you really have nothing better to do?!”

Jack ignored him as he punched in the extension he could dial with his eyes closed now. “Hello? IT? Yeah, it happened again. Could you send someone up? Boss Tang will be  _ really _ upset if these reports I was working on are lost and you just  _ know _ that means Boss Zuo will also be on our cases…”

At noon on the dot, there was (at least to Jack) the delightful patter of sneakers on carpet running up to Jack’s cubicle. Jack pointedly ignored Li Zhide’s groan and put his most charming smile on his face. “Jack! Why am I not surprised to see it’s you again! It’s like clockwork every week!” Zhao Zi said as he leaned against the cubicle walls. 

Jack laughed. “Oh, I guess the universe has it out for me. Say, you haven’t taken your lunch break yet right?” Jack’s smile grew as he took in the pout on the IT tech’s face. “How about we have lunch together after you get this thing to stop acting up?”

Zhao Zi’s face lit up. “Did you bring-”

“I did bring extra lunch today! Perhaps it was meant to be after all!”

Zhao Zi jumped up and down in cheer. “I’m so excited! Come on! Let me get at this poor machine and then food!”

Jack stepped away as Zhao Zi all but fell into the vacated computer chair, and with astounding focus, began a furious clatter on the keyboard to resolve the issue.

\------

It was two months ago that Jack had first run into an issue with his computer. 

Jack was no slouch when it came to technology. You didn’t get far in his field of expertise without more than just the basics. However, there was very little coding predictive algorithms could do when it came to terminated software licenses and a (slightly illegal) quick fix that resulted in a hard disk failure. 

“Please send someone up to fix this,” Jack said as calmly as he could muster to the IT secretary. “Boss Tang needs me to finish this by TONIGHT.”

“I’m really sorry, but all our technicians are already out… And-”

“Okay, but I’m not talking about any department head as Boss Tang. You know that right? I’m talking about CEO Tang Yi. You know, the one who signs EVERYONE’S paychecks in this building.  _ That  _ Boss Tang. So do  _ something _ .”

A few minutes later, something was Zhao Li’an. 

“But you can just call me Zhao Zi! Everyone does!” Zhao Zi had said with a bright and cheery smile. 

Jack was stunned into silence by the force of such brightness and that quickly morphed into impressed awe when Zhao Zi had his computer back up and running after five minutes of key clacking. Another five minutes later, he’d even updated the activation license and fixed the weird spots on Jack’s screen resolution.

“All done!” Zhao Zi stood up with a stretch which was quickly followed by a loud rumbling sound. Zhao Zi’s cheeks turned just the faintest shade of pink. “Sorry. I still haven’t taken my lunch break yet.”

Zhao Zi’s face looked so pitiful that Jack found himself handing over his lunch box before he could register doing so. “Here. Have some.”

Zhao Zi blinked. “But that’s your lunch?”

“I-”

“Oh! Let’s share!” Zhao Zi grabbed Jack’s hand. “The lunch room on this floor isn’t far, right?”

Amidst sharing cold sesame noodles, pickled vegetables, breaded pork cutlets, and tea eggs, Jack’s eyes never left Zhao Zi’s smiling face. Jack had always been skeptical of love at first sight. He wasn’t a romantic, much to the consternation of his many previous partners. 

But Jack was no stranger to intrigue and curiosity. 

And thus began Jack’s weekly sabotage of his own computer in increasingly interesting ways.

\------

“You’ve really done a doozy on it today,” Zhao Zi said after many more minutes than usual. “I didn’t even know someone could mess up the registry just doing what you do.”

“Yeah…” Jack said as he checked his watch. “Crazy isn’t it?”

“But…” Zhao Zi typed another series of characters and hit enter. The computer seemed to restart and suddenly Jack’s desktop wallpaper returned. “I fixed it!”

Jack clapped and could almost hear the grinding of Li Zhide’s teeth. “Well done! Truly well deserving of a good lunch now.”

“Really?! What did you bring today?”

“Braised pork belly with pickled garlic. Stir-fried lotus root and bamboo shoots with lots of chili peppers. And-”

“Taro rice?”

Jack smiled. “You guessed correctly, Shorty.”

“Wow! Everything I wanted to eat today! You have to be a mind reader!”

“Just coincidence, Shorty,” Jack said as he led Zhao Zi out. More accurately, Jack walked away from his cubicle holding his large lunch box and Zhao Zi followed as if Jack was the Pied Piper. “Come on, let’s enjoy lunch today and end the week well.”

“Mm…” Zhao Zi pulled a seat up to the lunch table, mouth already salivating. “Shame we just have lunch when your computer is on the fritz.”

Jack paused for just a moment as he pulled dishes out of his lunch box. “Oh?” 

“Yeah. It’d be great if we had lunch every day! Then I’d eat such nice food all the time!” Zhao Zi snatched up the offered pair of chopsticks. 

“Every day…” Jack said to himself as Zhao Zi dug in. “I could do every day.”

\------

_ Monday: _   
“For some reason it won’t print…”   
  
“...How is your computer the only one who isn’t able to identify the printer’s correct IP address??”

“No idea. But hey, you like xiaolongbao right?”

\------

_ Tuesday: _   
“Totally crazy isn’t it?”

“It really is! And you swear you haven’t opened up your computer here, ever?”

“Cross my heart!”

“But then how was your motherboard unplugged from everything?”

“No idea. But how do you feel about fish curry for lunch today?”

\-------

_ Wednesday: _   
“I swear! I’m totally innocent! I would never hurt a computer monitor like that!”

“But… The angle of the pencil…”

“...Li Zhide threw it at me.”

“YOU WOULD DESERVE IT IF I ACTUALLY DID.”

“Uh…”

“Don’t mind him. I brought kimchi stew with noodles if that’s incentive to get me a new monitor quickly?”

\------

_ Thursday: _   
“So you’re not gonna believe this…”

“Jack…”

“Okay, but before you sigh at me, remember, I brought beer braised crawfish with me today.”

“...Did you try turning it off and on again?”

“Twice.”

“Okay… I’ll take a look. But you better have-”

“Shrimp shumai? Spicy and sour glass noodles? Pickled bamboo shoots?”

“All of the above.”

“What a coincidence! I do!”

\------

_ Friday: _   
Jack dug around under his desk desperately. Zhao Zi was on his way up and it wouldn’t do if there wasn’t a problem for him to fix.

“Jack… What are you doing?” Jack jolted at the sound of Zhao Zi’s voice, several minutes ahead of schedule, and banged his head on the underside of his desk. “Ah! Are you okay?” Zhao Zi pulled Jack out to find him rubbing his head with one hand and clutching the surge protector power cord with the other. “What on earth?”

“Uh…” Jack suddenly found all his charismatic demeanor vanishing into thin air. Along with possibly any affection Zhao Zi had for him. “How about lunch first?”

For the first time in his life, Jack finally saw Zhao Zi frown. “Okay. Lunch first.”

\------

In the lunchroom, Jack set down his lunch box and carefully pulled out today’s offering of dishes. Zhao Zi stared only at the table despite the many delicious scents. All of them dishes Jack knew Zhao Zi might like today. 

And yet Zhao Zi would not look at the food or at him.

“Shorty…. I mean, Zhao Zi,” Jack started. “I should explain-”

“Have you really been faking emergencies just to see me?”

“Well-”

“Zhao Zi?” The pair turned to look at the interloper. Tang Yi’s boyfriend and captain of the local police department, Meng Shaofei. “What are you doing up here?”

“Ah Fei!” Zhao Zi immediately stood up. “I should ask you the same thing!”

“Ah Yi forgot some paperwork at home so I came to bring it for him.” Meng Shaofei frowned. “Shouldn’t you be down in the IT department? Didn’t you say you got a new promotion to department manager of the IT department?” 

Zhao Zi turned pale and Jack blinked. “What?”

“You shouldn’t be running around fixing all these calls for IT support anymore. You’re supposed to be the one sending all the technicians,” Meng Shaofei said with his arms crossed. 

Zhao Zi scrunched up his face, stomped over, and pushed Meng Shaofei in the direction of the elevator. “Stop interfering! Go back to work!”

“You go first!”

“I am at work!”

“Working someone’s heartstrings!”

“ _ Ah Fei _ !”

After another few minutes of roughhousing while Jack sorted his own thoughts, Meng Shaofei had finally left and Zhao Zi returned, face red. But whether it was from embarrassment or exertion, Jack wasn’t sure. Zhao Zi returned to his seat, hands clenched into fists in his lap. His eyes still did not look at the food Jack had laid out. Instead, he looked at a point exactly to the left of Jack’s left eye. 

Jack licked his lips and earned a twitch from Zhao Zi. “So… Uh…” Jack tapped his chopsticks against the table. “Should we talk?”

Zhao Zi picked up the chopsticks Jack had placed next to him and shoved an entire spring roll into his mouth. Followed by several pieces of roast duck breast. Then the sauteed watercress and spinach. And finally an entire large piece of fried tofu before standing up to bolt.

“Hey!” Jack’s arm snapped out and he just managed to grab Zhao Zi’s wrist. “Shorty, can we-”

After a monumental effort to swallow all the remaining food in his mouth, Zhao Zi only whined. “Jaaaaack! It’s so embarrassing! Just let me go!”

“What? Why are you the embarrassed one?” Jack tugged Zhao Zi’s arm to pull him a half step closer. “Shouldn’t I be the embarrassed one here? You literally caught me messing up my computer just to get you to come here.”

Zhao Zi pouted. “Well…”

“Unless… Meng Shaofei was right? You’re actually the IT Department Manager?”

“I just got promoted a few months ago,” Zhao Zi said softly.

“So around the time we first met?” Zhao Zi nodded. “So why were you sent up?”

Zhao Zi flopped back into his seat and looked at the food forlornly. Jack noted that he was still apparently undeserving of Zhao Zi’s gaze. “You said it was a big deal, that CEO Tang Yi needed you to finish your work that night.” Zhao Zi shrugged. “All the other techs were out. And I’d be a bad manager if I didn’t do my best to also manage the workload when everyone else is working hard…”

Jack inched closer. “So why did you keep coming?”

Zhao Zi scratched his nose. “Well… the second time was another busy day… But then your problem was interesting again and you did have good food…”

Jack collapsed back into his seat. “That’s it? Just for my food?”

Zhao Zi finally rolled his eyes and faced Jack, putting his hand on top of Jack’s. “Your food is good, but it’s not the only reason why I’d keep responding to your self sabotage.”

Jack winced. “So you knew, huh?”

“You planned it like clockwork every week after that,” Zhao Zi said while raising an eyebrow. “How could I  _ not _ know?”

“You know… You’re sharper than you look, Shorty…” 

“Jack.”

“Okay, I admit it. I did it just so… You might keep coming up to see me.” Jack shook his head. “I’m sorry it… got out of control.”

“And…” Zhao Zi winced. “I admit I might… have used my position as a manager to… always be assigned to your tech support calls…”

“Shorty… Are you saying-”

“I’m saying, you don’t have to keep wrecking your computer to have lunch with me.” Zhao Zi’s cheeks turned pink again. “I’m perfectly willing to just… have lunch with you.”

“Just have lunch with me?” Jack’s lips spread into a sly grin. “Or maybe…”

“Wow this all looks great! Let’s just eat!” Zhao Zi resumed stuffing his face at lightning speed.

“Okay. Lunch dates then. We’ll just start with lunch dates,” Jack said as he rubbed Zhao Zi’s knuckles. The shade of pink on Zhao Zi’s face turned just a bit darker. “So what do you want for lunch tomorrow?”

Zhao Zi stopped stuffing his face to look at Jack in confusion. “But we don’t have work tomorrow? It’s Saturday?”

“Doesn’t mean we can’t have a lunch date anyway, Shorty,” Jack said as he wiped the sauce from Zhao Zi’s lips with his thumb. “What do you say?”

Zhao Zi bit his lip. “Only if there’s pork and mushroom zongzi.”

“Noted.”


End file.
